Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 69

Getting an invitation to enter the Demon Fortress is great, but I still haven’t figured out where the Demon Fortress is located.

I tried asking the Hwarang and in Guild Chat, but it seems like no one knows.

In the end, I had no choice but to summon my Hellfire Horse and charge across the dead, blackened ground like before.

I ran and ran and ran some more.

This newly added area called Hell was particularly vast, so I had to keep running.

I wasn’t the only one running hard. Other users were also sprinting to unveil the map of the new area.

It was while I was running like that.

An unusual building appeared in sight. It looked just like a temple, but green flames were rising from the decorated skeletons at regular intervals.

Seeing that, I remembered the conversion system that was recently added.

I dismounted from my Hellfire Horse and approached the temple.

Just to be safe, I drew my Demon Sword, but no monsters or hostile alliances showed up.

In fact, there was no one around this temple at all. Not even the usual NPCs were visible.

Just as I got closer to the temple.

The green flames rising from the skeleton decorations intensified, and a clear voice echoed from inside the temple.

[Oh knight who accepts the light, I sense a very familiar power within you.]

I dashed into the temple to find the owner of the sudden voice, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find anyone.

However, the voice didn’t stop.

[Rage, revenge, cruelty. I can feel that negative emotion tangled within you.]

The direction of the voice kept changing.

In the meantime, a platform placed deep inside the temple began to emit black flames, revealing a hazy demonic figure.

[Do you wish to become stronger than you are now?]

“Are you just going to give me power?”

[I will grant you power. If you forsake the god you serve, I will give you greater strength. However, you must serve me in return.]

[The Demon God Azathoth offers you conversion.]

Accepting conversion will make it impossible to visit the ordinary temple.

[Paladin] → [Death Knight] job change occurs.

Since I was wielding a Demon Sword, it was already impossible to converse with the temple’s NPCs.

If I didn’t like being a Death Knight, I’d just have to purchase a class reset scroll from the cash shop.

There was no hesitation. I accepted Azathoth’s invitation for conversion.

[You will not regret your choice.]

The moment Azathoth’s words ended, the hazy demonic figure on the altar burst forth with black energy, wrapping around my body.

Immediately afterward, I could feel the light of the sun shining from my chest fading away without a trace.

As if it had been consumed entirely by the black energy.

As always, the exaggerated effects for changing classes meant I could barely feel anything.

They were just a device to please the eyes.

The black magic wrapping around my body slowly dispersed.

I quickly checked my body’s changes.

While my appearance hadn’t changed, the halo that had slightly shown behind me vanished, and a faint black magic began to spread beneath my feet.

I immediately checked my skills.

[Death Knight]

[Blessing of the Demon God Azathoth.]

This is the blessing of the Demon God Azathoth.

All elemental resistances except for light increased by 10%.

Dark element attack power increased by 10%.

[Armor Mastery: Full Plate]

The penalties for Full Plate armor type are removed.

Additional defense increased +50.

[Death’s Touch]

Extends a hand imbued with the energy of death.

Pulls enemies within a certain radius towards the caster.

[Azathoth’s Sword]

Imbues the weapon with the blessing of the Demon God.

Damage increased by 15%.

All damage dealt to holy attribute and human clan monsters increased by 20%.

[One Close to Death]

Physical damage taken reduced by 10%.

Magic damage taken reduced by 10%.

Holy damage received increased by 10%.

[Evil Strike]

Swings the sword at high speed towards the front.

Upon a successful hit, triggers [Curse of Death] reducing the target’s maximum health by 10%.

Maximum stack count is 1.

Not applicable to boss monsters.

[Bone Shield]

Summons a bone shield to protect the user upon taking damage.

Blocks one attack.

Cooldown 50 seconds.

[Aura of Death]

Increases movement speed by 10% for myself and all allies within a radius of 50 meters.

[Life Absorption]

Can only be activated on targets with low health.

Instantly kills the target, absorbing 50% of their health.

Given that there’s no Shield Mastery in the job skills, it clearly doesn’t seem to be a tank class.

Looking at the overall skill set, it was entirely opposing that of a Paladin. Given that it compensates for the Paladin’s poor attack abilities, it was certainly leaning toward the dealer position.

There couldn’t be a more suitable class for me at this time.

[Death Knight, your true self…]

I shared the coordinates of this temple on Guild Chat and hurriedly left the temple.

Although Azathoth’s voice continued to echo behind me, I’d already changed my class using the conversion system.

It meant there was no need to listen to an annoying voice anymore.

“Let’s go!”

I spread my arms wide once more.

Summoning a large magical formation to pull out a small Hellfire Horse.

“Hee-haw!”

The Hellfire Horse that emerged from the magical formation maintained its very tiny size, just like always.

I jumped onto its back and began to dash away quickly.

Fortunately, the Demon Fortress I was looking for was not far from the temple.

The Demon Fortress looked exceptionally huge at first glance.

As I ran down the seemingly endless walls, a message popped up saying, [You have reached the Safety Zone.]

It seemed that the area near the Demon Fortress was designated as a village.

In front of the fortress gate stood an old demon.

[Coin Exchange Merchant Hilderick]

With a monocle over one eye, a pocket watch hanging loosely at his waist, and dressed in a black butler uniform.

Hilderick was the archetypal butler character.

“Um… Do you have business at the Demon Fortress?”

Hilderick said as I approached, looking at his pocket watch.

I nodded and took the invitation out of my inventory to show him.

“If you wish to participate in the Blood Festival, please use the invitation.”

It looked like I had indeed come to the right place.

I immediately used the invitation I had in hand.

[Entering the Demon Fortress.]

[For the fair game, all users’ appearances will be changed to that of the Demon Clan.]

With a bright light, the map shifted.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a dark room with blood pooling beneath me.

First, I checked my appearance.

The length of my arms and legs hadn’t greatly changed from my original body.

But the appearance was another story.

The horns sprouting from my head had grown tremendously compared to before, and a long tail was dragging behind me.

Even my skin had transformed from pale and soft to rough and sturdy, being a dark red hue.

Even the appearance of the equipment I was wearing had changed.

In this state, I definitely wouldn’t be able to recognize anyone.

I hurriedly exited the room.

Once I stepped out, an endlessly long corridor unfolded before me.

Naturally, Demon Clan monsters were roaming around the corridor.

It was time to farm new equipment.

Though the appearance of the gear changed, the effects were still intact.

I began to swing my sword, taking down the monsters.

The monsters inside the Demon Fortress dropped red coins at a certain rate.

If I gathered these coins, Hilderick in front of the Demon Fortress would exchange them for equipment.

Just as I finished dealing with all the monsters in the corridor and stepped out onto the stairs.

I spotted a Demon Clan user not too far away, taking down monsters.

I couldn’t see their nickname, but I could tell their class from the weapon and skills they were using.

The lone user hunting inside this Demon Fortress was a Thief.

With large demonic wings fluttering and dual daggers wielded, it seemed the user hadn’t noticed me and dashed toward their next prey.

It was a perfect opportunity to try out my new skills.

I immediately charged at the Thief user.

Only then did the Thief seem to realize my presence, startled, and activated stealth.

Quickly disappearing into the shadows, but the blood pooling underneath revealed clear footprints of the Thief.

I directed my [Death’s Touch] toward the concealed Thief.

Then a large hand-shaped silhouette of black energy shot forth from my body, grabbing the Thief user hiding in the shadows and pulling them toward me.

I didn’t even have to chase the fleeing enemy. It was quite a nice skill.

“Ah, ahhh!”

The Thief user screamed, swinging their sword.

Just before the sharp blade of the dagger touched my body, a large bone shield formed in the air, blocking the attack.

Clang!

The bone shield that stopped a single attack instantly vanished.

I quickly prepared my next skill.

[Evil Strike]

The moment I activated the new skill, the sword I was holding swung at great speed.

With an upward slash from below, dark magic enveloped the attack.

The Thief user, thrown back by the heavy hit, shouted in a panicked voice.

“Uh, wait!!! Could I know your nickname!!!”

“My nickname?”

The Thief user seemed to feel a glimmer of hope and nodded vigorously.

But they couldn’t shake off the instinct to flee, their eyes darting around anxiously.

I chuckled, scratching my neck.

Even my voice had changed, so unless I stated my identity directly, no one would recognize me.

“I am the Demon Lord.”

“The, Demon Lord…?”

“Indeed.”

In this place where my appearance was completely obscured, I became the Demon Lord.

It was truly the perfect place.

“And Demon Lords show no mercy.”

Just as the Thief user looked shocked and was about to open their mouth.

Without a moment’s hesitation, I swung my sword and pierced the Thief user’s chest.

Crack!

“You crazy concept-chasing bastard…”

“Such blasphemous words.”

“You… just wait here…”

The Thief user’s health was quickly depleting.

I reached out toward them.

[Life Absorption]

The already low-health Thief user turned gray, spewing out red blood as they collapsed.

The life force I drew from the Thief user was absorbed into my body.

My slightly diminished health quickly surged back up.

It was just as the Thief user died.

As their body began to turn gray and disappear, red coins poured down from them.

“Gah…”

I knelt on the ground, gathering the coins.

It seemed that the coins obtained on this map were dropped when killed.

The Thief user had dropped around a thousand coins.

Considering I had collected about a hundred coins from clearing all the monsters in the corridor, it was an enormous amount.

Farming coins from monsters seemed foolish.

Here, I had to hunt humans.

With my eyes gleaming, I looked around.

To swiftly match my armor, I needed to find another piggy bank.